Acts 15:1-21/Galatians 2:1-10/St Matthew 16:13-19 In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.

This past Wednesday, June 25, the Church commemorated the 484th anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. The day came and went with relatively little fanfare. Most of you probably just assumed it to be another Wednesday. But on that day in 1530 the princes of Saxon Germany, a small group of laymen, gathered in Augsburg to present their statement of faith before Emperor Charles V. It began with the words of the Introit for today, I will speak of your testimonies before kings, O Lord, and shall not be put to shame (Ps 119:46).

Though recently written, their confession was nothing new. In fact it was quite old. The Augsburg Confession is the historic confession of the one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church. It is the confession of St Peter regarding the person and work of Jesus. It is the proclamation of St Paul, who resolved to preaching nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And it is the declaration of Apostolic Council in Jerusalem.

For whether the Augsburg Confession is dealing with the doctrine of sin or the Lord’s Supper, the unity of the Church, or the office of the Holy Ministry, all Christian teaching is unfolded in and around this central theme, that of Article IV: “It is taught [among us] that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God through our merit, work, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God out of grace for Christ’s sake through faith when we believe that Christ has suffered for us and that for His sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us” (KW AC IV).

And this is precisely the confession of St Peter: [Jesus is] the Christ, the Son of the living God. He is the almighty and eternal Son who has come down from heaven, in the flesh, to give His life as a ransom for many. He entered our pagan territory of sin and death in order to slay and defeat our ancient enemy, the old dragon, the devil and Satan. By His death He has atoned for the sins of the world, reconciled us to the Father, and thus destroyed death. He has plundered the grave of its dead and in His resurrection has opened the gates of heaven to all who believe and are baptized into Him, our dear Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the confession of St Peter, the preaching of St Paul, the doctrine of the blessed Apostles. This is the confession made at Augsburg, the proclamation that goes forth from this pulpit, and the public declaration of the one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church today, built on the Rock of Christ, who lives and abides with His Church on earth and keeps her safe and secure from sin, death, the devil, and hell.

In such a time as this and such a place, why, then, would you stand outside? Why would you chose to worship the idols of lust and passion, which really are the dead gods of self-destruction? Why would you sacrifice your freedom in Christ on the altar of tolerance? Why would you be ashamed to speak His testimonies before kings?

The problem that confronts us, our Old Adam and the sinful world in which we live, is that almighty Son of the living God appears weak and dead. He is the Wise Man who built His House on the Rock, but to the eyes of the world He appears foolish and the Rock foundation of His Christian Church appears to be shifting sand.

For the Lord Jesus Christ appears to be no more than a man - a great Prophet perhaps, a good and righteous man who taught about love and tolerance and acceptance. And when He is crucified, dead, and buried, executed as a criminal, hung upon a cursed tree in naked shame and humiliation, laid to rest in a borrowed tomb, where is the victory in that? Where is the power and might of His great glory? Where is the promise of His coming? Where do you ever see or feel or experience His Resurrection and His Life?

He says the gates of Hades shall not overpower His Church. But what of the fact of your loved one, your family and friends and fellow Christians who are subject to death and are buried? What of the fact that a single federal judge can overturn thousands of years of history - making homosexual marriage legal in a state that did not even approve of it? What about when the government’s pen appears more powerful than the Church’s confession?

The Church appears to be a pitiful fortress indeed, little more than a fisherman’s shack upon the sea-shore. It’s so-called “Rock” foundation is but the Ministry of the Gospel, the preaching of repentance, the spoken word of Absolution, the washing of water with the Word, the administration of bread and wine in the Name and stead of Christ Jesus, the crucified One!

And what sort of men are called and sent to preach and administer this Gospel? Sinners, the lot of them! Men like Simon Peter and Paul of Tarsus - a wavering denier of Christ, and a former diehard Pharisee, a persecutor of Jesus. Pastors to this day are quarried from the same rockpile - sinners in need of forgiveness for their own sins, mortals subject to death and the grave like you, flawed and frail creatures of flesh and blood.

And what keys to they bring? With what do they come to set you free from the death-grip of sin and open the gates of heaven to you? By what power and authority are they supposed to keep you safe? Nothing but the Gospel, the Word of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, the means of grace. Pitiful, pathetic, it would seem, and impotent in the face of all your needs and the crumbling spires and steeples throughout the world.

Perhaps it is apropos, a little divine irony, that on the day of the commemoration of the Church’s great confession at Augsburg, Germany, the state makes her own declaration from the Federal Courthouse in Indianapolis. For this past Wednesday the state of Indiana legalized same-sex marriage. Two confessions on one day, separated by nearly 500 years. One boldly confessing Christ, the other tacitly denying Him. One the historic proclamation of the Church for the freeing of burdened consciences with Jesus’ own forgiveness, the other embracing sin for which Christ died and calling it natural.

In one state after another, one nation after another it appears as if the Church has been defeated. As if the confession of Peter and the preaching of Paul are worthless. Steeples are falling, spires are crumbling, Christians are being persecuted, and even martyred, the world over.

And by your own reason and strength you would not perceive or believe otherwise. This is our deep problem, running to the core of us: apart from the revelation of the Father we are without fear, love, and trust in God, and would be eternally damned.

For you cannot recognize the Lord Jesus Christ for who He is, nor come to Him, nor love and trust in Him, unless the Father reveal Him to you, and give Him to you, and lay Him upon your heart by His Word and Holy Spirit. Yet all of this, the Father does in grace and mercy and love. He does it by the very Cross of Christ and the preaching of His Gospel, which appear to all the world to be foolish and miserable and weak.

You cannot open your eyes wide enough to see it, but He opens your eyes in faith by the Light of His Word. You cannot open your heart to accept it, but He opens your ears to hear, your mind to understand, your heart to believe, and your lips to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who has become your Savior, your refuge and strength. And as the Psalm sang, He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth (Ps 46:9). Trust Him in the midst of persecution and turmoil; denial and redefinition.

For He, your heavenly Bridegroom, gives His servants to speak His Word to you, His Bride. Together you are the Church. Man and woman. The God-Man, Jesus Christ, and His holy and spotless Eve, formed from His own side and presented in splendor and righteousness. Thus the Word that His servants speak, those who follow in the train of St Peter and St Paul, is His Word of forgiveness and blessing. They are but unworthy servants.

So too the Sacraments they administer are His words of life and salvation for you. Their forgiveness is His forgiveness, as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ your dear Lord dealt with you Himself, for in this way so He does. This is the mystery of the Cross, He deals with you under the weakness of these despised and rejected means, giving you His grace and life.

And this forgiveness of sins, this free and full forgiveness of all your sins, though it seems a still small voice against the rage and roaring of the devil, it is the most solid foundation of an impenetrable mighty fortress. For where sin is forgiven the devil cannot accuse you. Where sin is forgiven, death no longer has any claim on you. Where sin if forgiven - and your sin is forgiven - there is only life and salvation, come hell or high water against you. And so the confession of St Peter, of St Paul, of all the Apostles, the confession of the leaders at Augsburg, is your confession. But the great twentieth century theologian Hermann Sasse said, “A confession cannot remain a confession if it only inherited. It must be confessed. We can only confess if we are deeply convinced that it is the true interpretation of Scripture.”

Therefore listen to the preaching of St Peter and Paul, for you cannot confess what you do not first hear. And do not fear those who try to sneak in and spy out your freedom in Christ; do not yield to those who would subvert the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins. Speak His testimonies before kings, confess before governors and attorney generals and district court judges. Confess before your neighbor, your brother, your friend. For faith cometh by hearing; and hearing of the Word of Christ.

Dear people loved by God, by the grace of God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ you have been loosed from your sins. You shall not die, but live; the gates of hell shall not prevail against you within the Church of Christ; the Word abides and stands fast forever. This is valid and certain in heaven. You are free. Live as people who are free. Freely making the good confession.

In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.